Jericho

Jericho

Jericho is a big oasis in a very arid area. The City served as a place of settlement over the years thanks to the nearby springs. The city draws its water from two sources: from the fountain of Elisha (Ein a-Sultan) and from a spring called Na'aran, which is about 3 km northwest of the spring Elisha.

According to a an accepted hypothesis, the city of Jericho is named after the moon cult rituals that was practiced there.

The first settlers of Tel Jericho were hunter-gatherer of the Late Natufian culture, more than 11,500 years ago. In the following period (about 11,500 years BP), pre-ceramic Neolithic era, Jericho was a large village and the most important one found in Israel to date.
According to the findings, in Jericho was a walled settlement. This wall was probably used for Erosion, rather than protection and security. Apparently the settlement was built over an area of ​​40 hectares with round houses and a guard tower. This tower structure was apparently a ritual tower as it is built differently than a proper guard tower. Around the wall Hafir - large canal, designed to provide land for agriculture and water pumping.
The Wall and tower symbolize just the beginning of Jericho, and in the pre-ceramic Neolithic Jericho, there is no trace of the wall and tower.

Early Bronze Age Jericho was of economic and military importance. The great advantage was being located in the Jordan Valley - traders who passed through the Jordan Valley visited Jericho as well. Even in military terms it was an advantage, because the enemy had to pass through the Jordan Valley to reach Jericho and to move to other cities.

According to the book of Joshua, Jericho was the first city conquered by the Children of Israel in their entry to Israel. The conquest of the city was told as if it was a miracle.The Israelites surrounded the walls of the fortified city once a day for a week. The leaders of this attack were 7 Cohanim, the Jewish priests with the ark. And on the seventh day circled seven times, blew the trumpets and cheered, then the wall fell, and they broke into the city, captured and burned it. Joshua cast a curse on those who build Jericho again: "Cursed before the LORD be the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho: 'At the cost of his firstborn shall he lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest son shall he set up its gates'" (Joshua 6:26). In the period of Ahab king of Israel, Jericho was rebuilt, and it is told that the curse of Joshua held. Later it was indicated that was the seat of the prophets took place in Jericho. We can therefore conclude that since Jericho was built again - there was no ban on settling there.

In the 20th century a number of archaeological excavations were held in Tel Jericho, that among other things, were designed to compare the biblical story with the findings. The researchers disagreed about various strata dating site.